To Change the Mentalities in Africa

About the Book

As the title says it, the main reason that I wrote or put together this book is to try to change even just one Zairian/Congolese/ African's mentality in a positive way so that he/she might become socially, economically and politically independent, both abroad and, above all, back home in Africa. Zairian/ Congolese/African people must move beyond the stage of being passive consumers and become producers or active consumers in order to start taking care of themselves instead of sitting and waiting for help from the White man.

I'm completely convinced that Zairian/Congolese/African people are intelligent people and that we can do just as well economically/socially/politically as European/North Americans by taking advantage of the brains that God has given to everyone (Black, White, Yellow, etc.). We must start trusting in ourselves (in our brains, which are not different from the Europeans'/North Americans'); for without doing this, we will remain dependent on the Europeans/North Americans and will continue to escape the reality back home by immigrating to Europe/North America.

This book is simply a collection of articles written by different brothers/sisters (engineers, military officers, journalists, medical doctors, computer-scientists, pastors, linguists, and many other kinds of people) who have gained a lot of experience by living/working in different areas of the planet (Zaire/D.R. Congo, South Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo, Niger, Cameroon, Russia, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Holland, R.C. Africa, China, Gabon, Belgium, France, Canada, USA, England, etc.)This book is divided into 22 chapters, addressing different subjects/topics regarding Zaire/D.R. Congo in particular and Africa in general, from King Leopold II up to the present day. The book talks about witchcraft, religion, Peter Botha's speech on apartheid, Papa Wemba's arrest in France, Grooming (Religion "Kitendi"), sterility, questions regarding the legitimacy of Joseph Kabila's presidency, the Linguistic inferiority complex, lack of creativity among Black people, Mobutu's theory of resort to authenticity, and many othertopics.

About the Author

M.M.M. (Mfumukanda M. Masembo) was born in Bandalungwa/Kinshasa/D.R. Congo. After his pre-engineering studies at the University of Kinshasa, he was admitted to the Belgian Royal Military Academy, then integrated into the Polytechnic Faculty of Mons. He later went to the USA, where he still lives, and graduated from CCNY. He presently works as a Mechanical Engineer for General Electric, Inc. His assignments have taken him to Senegal and Puerto Rico.

Having worked and lived in three continents, M.M.M. quickly found himself confronted with different cultures and religions. This mixture, this "choc of cultures," prompted him to fi nd a deeper understanding of human behavior. Thus, M.M.M. decided to gather, in this book, contributions from different authors—mostly from the D.R. Congo—who are going over solutions for the well-being not only of the Zairian/Congolese or African people, but also for all of humanity.